1972 Roadrunner Story | Tools In Action

Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Automotive). This thread is read-only.

TD-Millwork&MetalMember since Jan 2017Jan 26, 2017 2:00 PM CT

Don’t want to sound like a douche show-boating his ride but I just wanted to share my story of how I got my RR because I’ve been asked. Here we go

9 years ago I was a sophomore in high school when I began my hunt for my first car. Knew I wanted something fast, old, and ballsy. My old man is a master mechanic for GM, Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep, and Datsun/Nissan. Growing up we always worked on his Covair Spyder and anything that ran on pump gas or diesel. He influenced me to look into 80’s firebirds at the time. Found a 92′ V6 red with t-tops (non-trans am) on Craigslist and bought her on the spot. Drove it home without a permit or license…whoops 😉 Drove it around the neighborhood for a few weeks while we tooled around with it. It was fun…but not nearly fun enough. SO went back on CL and found a 92′ 305 v8 Camaro RS (Ralley Sport) that was recently in a bad accident. Bought the car for pennies and began hunting junk yards for parts to fix the damage. After spending merely 2 weeks hunting for parts I had everything I needed and began to fix the body and core support. After roping chains to a tree and un-f*cking my core support I completed the bodywork as well as: swapping the pristine firebird interior with my shoddy camaro interior, and tearing apart the 305… I was ready to get her painted. So I sold the firebird to pay for a Maaco paint job (yup Maaco). Re-painted it black and they actually did a decent job despite recommendations not to let them. Mind you I STILL DON’T HAVE MY PERMIT OR LICENSE. So now my cars all done and I cant even drive it haha. Finally I was old enough to get my permit and started driving it. Still it didn’t have the balls I needed it to have. So what did I do? Went back to CL…again. This time I put my Camaro up for sale to try and make a profit. Low and behold a guy emails me asking if I want to trade. I didn’t at the time but decided to ask what he had. He said a 72 Roadrunner and sent me pics. I sh*t myself when I saw what he had to offer. It was kept in an airport hanger and recently hit by an F-150. The guy couldn’t afford to fix it so he wanted to get rid of it for something in working condition. Drove to him that day and we traded EVEN, no cash whatsoever. Threw my plates on it, took it home, got pulled over because my plates where for my Dads 86 Monte SS but the cop let us get home. Next morning took it to a friends shop and threw it on a lift. Blew out the frame rails to find nothing but dust…no rot, very little rust, Hell Yea! From that point on I spent a month or so cleaning her up and doing the best dent recovery i could before trying to get it painted. Ending up bringing it to a buddy that owns a restoration shop and for cheap $ I helped him prep and paint the car. By the time it was finished I had my license and have been driving and maintaining it since. Still my pride and joy